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Where Are We?

For outdoor adventure, look to Brantford and our surrounding areas! From river rafting to canoeing, hiking, outdoor water parks and fabulous scenery and wildlife spottings, what better way to spend a day outside than experiencing Brantford's outdoors?

Grand River Country and the Grand River

Grand River Country is situated on the southwestern arm of Ontario, bordered by Lake Erie to the south and Lake Ontario to the west. Comprised of cities such as Brantford, Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton and Guelph, this area contains a diversity of landscapes.

Flowing through the region is the Grand River, the largest river in Southwestern Ontario. The Grand River has woven its way into the chronicles of history - sustaining generations of plants, animals, and humans with water and food, providing transportation routes for traveler and trader alike, and powering the historic mills which still dot its shores.

In 1994, the Grand River was declared a Canadian Heritage River because of its outstanding river-related human heritage and recreational values of national significance. It was the first Heritage River flowing through a developed and urbanized area. An interesting fact: there are 82 species of fish in the Grand River watershed - that’s 50 per cent of all the fish species found in Canada!

Did you know? The Grand River has had many different names. The Mohawks called it “O:se Kenhionhata:tie," which means “willow river.” Early French explorers named it “La Rapide” or “La Grande.” For a time in the late 1700s it was renamed The Ouse, after an English river, before it became, finally, the Grand River.

For more information on the Grand River, visit the Grand River Country website.

Grand River Conservation Authority

The Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA), founded in 1938, was the first water management agency in Canada. It continues today as a partnership of its member municipalities, which have banded together to manage and restore the river. The province of Ontario and many partner groups also work with the GRCA to improve the river. Today's GRCA continues to be a leader in watershed management programs, undertaken for the benefit of all residents who share a belief in the importance of the Grand, a Canadian Heritage River. 

Trails Take Flight Wins Another Award! The Grand River Country alliance won three awards for its "Trails Take Flight" project. The project is a local tourism initiative to promote the Grand River's fantastic trails and bird viewing opportunities. Twenty trails in communities across the watershed were selected for their exceptional bird habitats and marketed to the public in a unique brochure and interactive website.

Ontario Trails Council

Ontario Trails Council launches interactive GPS Trail Map
More than 1,900 Ontario trails mapped!

 After six months of development and dedicated work, the Ontario Trails Council (OTC) has launched the Ontario Trails Maps website. This site provides users with an exact GPS representation of trailheads and generates driving directions from any address to a selected trailhead. Trails are easily searchable by trail name, region or one of 18 different activities. The Ontario Trails Maps site is integrated with the main OTC site so that visitors have the convenience of detailed mapping for specific trails and still have access to the depth of information on the OTC site.

Trans Canada Trail Expansion

Brant Waterways Foundation and the County of Brant held an official ceremony on in October 2010 to celebrate the completion of the Toronto Hamilton & Buffalo Trail (TH&B) project. Work on this project included converting 12-km of an abandoned rail corridor into a multi-use trail, completing a key link of the Trans Canada Trail in southwestern Ontario. The governments of Canada and Ontario, and Brant Waterways Foundation have each committed up to $505,400 to the eligible costs for the project, which has a total cost of $1,516,200.

This project is one of more than 760 across the province that are made possible through a joint federal-provincial investment of more than $380 million under the Recreational Infrastructure Canada (RInC) Program in Ontario and the Ontario Recreation Program (Ontario REC). For more information, visit www.rinc-on.ca.

Shown in photo are Brant County mayor Ron Eddy and councillor Joan Gatward; MPP Dave Levac; MP Phil McColeman; Henry Stolp, president of the Brant Waterways Foundation; and Dan Andrews, executive director of Trans Canada Trail Ontario.

Links for Cyclists:

Find bicycle friendly businesses in: Niagara and other Greenbelt Regions including Hamilton, Halton, York, Peel, Durham & Northumberland; plus County of Frontenac. Accommodations, Restaurants, Cafes and Attractions.  Click to go to Welcome Cyclists Website

The Bike Train is a fun, economic and environmentally friendly way to enjoy a self-guided cycleing getaway in Ontario. The Bike Train provides passengers with bikes a convenient roll on, roll off service to the doorstep of Ontarios' premier tourist destinations. Click to go to Biketrain.ca website

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